1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention is generally directed to crop harvesting equipment and is specifically directed to legume harvesters of the type adapted to be towed or mounted on self-propelled vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many crops such as English peas, sugar snap peas, green soybeans, paprika and special gourmet varieties of green beans and other "gourmet-type" vegetable crops require a harvesting device that will produce a hand-picked quality vegetable. This is not possible with the known technology of the prior art.
The prior art harvesters for mechanical harvesting of leguminous vegetables such as green beans and English peas and the like generally comprise a plant alignment device which delivers the plant into a rotating drum with flexible steel fingers. As the device progresses toward the plant, the plants are directed into the flailing action of the drum fingers which strip the vegetable pods from the plants. In most instances, the rotating drum is also used as a conveyor apparatus for delivery of the plant material into subsequent transfer and collection devices. The concept of mechanical harvest of leguminous crops by the use of picking fingers on a rotating drum is acceptable for a very limited number of crops. These crops are either resilient enough to resist damage through the collection process or require further processing or are of the type where certain amounts of damage can be accepted. Where such techniques have been employed for "gourmet-type" vegetable crops, the damage and discard rate has approached 40% of harvested crops. This compares to a 10% or less discard rate for hand-picked crops. The improved discard rate of hand-picking continues to justify manual harvest under known conditions.
Examples of prior art devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,075 entitled "STRIPPING MACHINE" issued to R. Weiberg on Jul. 13, 1971; U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,905 entitled "POD-STRIPPING MACHINE", issued to V. Jarrell on Aug. 10, 1971; U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,860 entitled "HARVESTING MACHINE" issued to R. Weiberg on Nov. 20, 1973; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,928 entitled "BEAN HARVESTING MACHINE" issued to J. Kenyon et al on Jun. 2, 1970.
Products currently available using the generally known technology are manufactured by Pixall Corporation, Clear Lake, Wis. under the trademarks "BEAN STALKER" and "ONE-ROW TRACK-PICKS" and by Byron Enterprises, Inc., Byron, N.Y., under the model designation "BYRON 105".